Anchor ⚓︎ Jake 'Hangman' Seresin

⚓︎ chapter twenty ⚓︎

The next few days of training were incredibly stressful for everyone involved.  Anytime Jake got home, Eleanor could see the stress and it only worried her more and more to the point where she got physically sick.  She had even begun throwing up regularly, unable to keep a lot down because of her anxiety.

Though she tried to hide it more from Jake, he knew how worried she was, especially when she woke up in the middle of the night, sick with anxiety.  As much as she tried to be quiet, Jake heard her get sick every time and felt helpless every time. She would try to be quiet coming back to bed but he could hear her quiet sniffles as she cried, despite him rolling over to hold her in his arms.

Jake was beginning to get desperate because he knew that the way Bradley was flying, he wouldn't survive this mission if he did fly it, which is part of what Eleanor feared. He didn't know how, but Jake needed to knock some sense into Bradley.

Sitting in the debriefing room, Maverick was explaining phase one of the mission as all of the pilots listened intently.

"Time is your greatest enemy," he began.  "Phase one of the mission will be a low-level ingress attacking in two plane teams. You'll fly along this narrow canyon to your target." As he explained, the monitor in front of them began showing what the route would look like as they flew in their F-18s and just how difficult it would be.

"Radar guided surface-to-air missiles defend the area. These SAMs are lethal but they were designed to protect the skies above, not the canyon below," Maverick told them as he looked at the monitor.

"That's because the enemy knows no one is insane enough to try and fly below them," Bradley stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

Maverick turned to look at Bradley. "That's exactly what I'm gonna train you to do," he stated, causing all of the pilots to glance at each other with raised eyebrows. "On the day of, your altitude will be 100 feet maximum. You exceed this altitude, radar will spot you and you're dead. Your airspeed will be 660 knots minimum. Time to target, two and a half minutes. That's because fifth generation fighters wait at a base nearby. In a head-to-head with your F-18s, you're dead. That's why you need to get in, hit your target, and be gone before these planes even have a chance of catching you. This makes time your greatest adversary."

Jake couldn't help but shake his head slightly.  He was confident in his own ability to get this done, but he couldn't help but think of Eleanor and if she was allowed to know what the parameters of this mission called for her, it would make her worry more.  He didn't know how much more anxiety she could take on her mentality.

"You'll fly a route in your nav system that simulates the canyon," Maverick continued, "the faster you navigate this canyon, the harder it will be to stay under the radar of these enemy SAMs. The tighter the turns, the more intensely the force of gravity on your body multiplies, compressing your lungs, forcing the blood from your brain, impairing your judgment and reaction time. So for today's lesson, we're gonna take it easy on you. Max ceiling 300 feet, time to target 3 minutes. Good luck."

⚓︎

Unsurprisingly, none of the pilots passed the first phase of the simulation within the set parameters of the mission.  Maverick stood at the front of the class, making everyone watch each teams run.

The first group was Coyote with Phoenix and Bob. Everyone watched silently as it showed them trying to increase their speed before Coyote didn't anticipate a turn and slowed down, causing Phoenix and Bob to fly above the ceiling.

"Why are they dead?" Maverick asked Coyote.

Natasha answered before he could, "We broke the 300 foot ceiling, a SAM took us out." She looked down shamefully as she spoke.